Henry Anhalt, D.O.
Paediatric Endocrinologist and Chief Medical Officer, embecta
Improving care for diabetes requires education and knowledge sharing among patients and healthcare providers.
Right now, 10% of adults — more than 500 million people — are living with diabetes. That number is expected to grow to almost 800 million within the next 25 years.
Knowing your diabetes needs
As prevalence continues to rise, the care continuum continues to evolve, creating a significant need to provide new and ongoing education. At embecta, our primary focus has been to collaborate with the global diabetes community to elevate the standard of diabetes care via education and equipping healthcare professionals and those they treat with the necessary tools to help people manage their diabetes.
Living with diabetes can be overwhelming, whether someone has been newly diagnosed or is making a change to their treatment plan (e.g. adding insulin injections). Learning more about the available treatment options can be empowering, helping individuals feel in control as they work with their care team to manage their diabetes.
Expanding access to educational resources
One of the best ways to help people manage this condition is through expanded access to education, which has been a hallmark of our company. We reach people with diabetes, doctors, pharmacists, caregivers and other healthcare professionals in over 100 countries, providing support to more than 30 million patients.
We engage directly with people with diabetes through our BD™ Diabetes Care app — an educational and lifestyle tool designed to provide each person with an experience based on their journey. Through adaptive learning and AI, the app gives people with diabetes lifestyle content tailored to their individual, emotional and functional needs. It extends the efforts of healthcare providers by connecting patients to in-home support and education.
People living with diabetes need access to ongoing education to understand their condition.
Advancing injection therapy
We work with healthcare providers and pharmacists to advance injection therapy. We want to ensure those prescribing and dispensing injection products have a strong understanding of the benefits of shorter needles, injection site rotation and single-use needles for the amount of insulin prescribed.
We offer offices and pharmacies educational resources and tools for their patients. This includes injection how-to guides to educate about proper injection technique and ‘Getting Started’ booklets and toolboxes to support those beginning insulin therapy.
Providing these to everyone involved in the diabetes management ecosystem can help manage the burden of those living with diabetes.
Addressing patient burden
Organisations around the world are working to develop new treatments, devices or products aiming to improve diabetes care. But we cannot take our eyes off the patient while we focus on innovation. People living with diabetes need access to ongoing education to understand their condition and carry out the daily self-care which is essential to staying healthy and avoiding complications.
The reality of diabetes is that people on an insulin therapy protocol need to monitor their glucose and administer insulin accordingly. It can be challenging, as many individuals on insulin therapy may feel embarrassed, isolated or misunderstood.
With the right support and guidance from the moment of diagnosis, we can help reassure people with diabetes that they are not alone on their journey and provide educational resources to help them manage their diabetes.
Improving diabetes care standards
We, at embecta, will continue to work to improve the standard of care for those living with diabetes. Innovative products are part of the solution; access to educational resources is another. Everyone deserves to live a life unlimited by diabetes, and increasing access to educational tools and resources is a great place to start.
BD-76135
